Washing machine



Aug. 22, ""1933.

H. D. STEVENS WASHING MACHINE 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct.

INVENTOR Horace D. Sreuens ATTORNEYS Au 22, 1933. D STEVENS 1,924,005

WASHING MACHINE Filed Oct. 28, 1950 6 Sheets-Shet 2 ATTORNEYS Aug. 22, 1933. H. D. STEVENS WASHING MACHINE 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. ,8, 1930 INVENTOR Horace D. Siemens ATTORNEY Aug. 22, 1933. STEVENS 1,924,005

WASHING MACHINE Filed Oct. 28, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR HOTQOQ D. Stevens ATTORNEYS H. D. STEVENS WASHING MACHINE Aug. 22, 1933.

Filed Oct. 28, 1930 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Horace D. fflevens ATTORNEYS Filed Oct. 28, 1930 e Sheets-Sheet e INVENTOR MED Horace 1). Stevens ATTORNEYS venience in illustrating the same.

Patented AugiZZ, 1933 I v r i v UNITEDlSTATES PATENT, oF-Fme Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Akron, Ohio, a Corporation of Ohio v Application October 2 .1930. Serial No.. 191,673

3 Claims." (01. 15-21) This invention relates to machines for wash-' 'Siti0nand the tires will be free to 'pa along I ing-tires or similar objects, I I r e e trough 7 The general'purpose of the invention is to pro- After le v the Stacking Station a after wide a fully automatic apparatus for eificiently passing thes'fiel) 13, the tires P y gravity 5 washing rubber tires or similar articles. I a feeding Steti0h- Passage, of the tires A more particular object of the invention re- I through theifeedihg Station is Controlled y an sides in synchronizing the washer with conveyor motel p 16 Similar to the motor $13013 equipment so that the washed articles are auto-' 13 above described- AS Seehhl Figure/1A the matically removed. I proportion of parts and the operation thereof is 10 The above and other objects of the invention Such that only e tire sh d in the feeding are achieved by the apparatus illustrated'in. the Station While remainder are p in the accompanying drawings and described below, it Stacking Stahoh- I T being understood that the invention is not lim- From the feeding Station the tires enter the ited to the exact details shown and described. Washing Station which is p e b y aut ma i- 1 In the drawings; I cally adjustable to take care of various sized Figure 1A is a partial iew of the apparatus tires. To end the Washer includes a bed beinga side elevation of the. stacking, feeding frame at h ends yof'which are Journaled Washing end of t machine, t complete shafts 18.3116. 19. Keyed t0 eachof the, shafts machine being divided on line A-B for con- 13 and 19 are a pair of upwardly-extending 1 bracket arms 21, each pair journalling' a shaft Figure 1B is a partial View f the'appamtus, it 22 to which are fixed driverolls 2 3 which serve being a side elevation of the remainder of the f support and rotate the during the wash" machine showing the drying and discharging operatloh- I I L 3 portions. The line of division from the first The'shafis I13 an 19 are lmked'togebher by a 25 part of the apparatus iS again J 'bar24 which is pivotally secured to arms 25 and I Figure 2 is a plan i f t portion of the 26,- fixed 1n oppositely extending direct ons to the apparatus illustrated in Figure B shafts l8 and 19. The angular position of the Figure 3 is an enlarged plan w of the'wash shaft 19 and thus the dlstance between the rollers I 23 is controlled by arm ,27 which is fixed to the.

ing station. r v 30 I Figure 4 a enlarged Side elevation of the shaft 19 at one end. The other end of the arm .8 I

' 27 is connected to an air motor 30which is i apparatus at the Washing station" I pivotally secured to-a base 34 i g g i plan g of the m Mounted on the base 34 is a bracket 35 which em 0 e m e appam journals a shaft 36. A ratchet wheel 37 is fixed V Figure 6 is a longitudinal cross sectional view to one end of they Shaft 36 and cooperates with, a

' 45 cated in. dotted lines at 'r.

of 1 1? 9 the h motor stopsinwrnoraied in h pawl 38, controlled by an air motor 39' whereby mac me. I I I I R f ri t Figure 1A of the aw h eg a i ri e s Ziefid meral 8 indicates an elevated, forwardly-inclined, cam 41, 'a portion of-which engages with a pin 42 4e runway which is formed with side supports 9 and on the U-shaped arm 27 so that the arm can 5 side boards 11 which define a trough-like stackbe held in a y Of a humber'ef positionsing and feeding Space for t am t b .1 The shaft 36 is connected through an arm 43 Washed" which are automobile tires, in the form and a link 28 to a tire follower which comprises a of the invention described and which are indipair of arms pivoted on a shaft BLwhich arms carry a roller 32 adapted to roll over the tire I w I I as 'it passes into the washer. A pair ofweights ig ???i gfi s gfgg si gi g gi 33, fixed to thearms 29 as extensions thereof are v v provided to counterbalance the I weight of the i -9 as W m detaffl 1n.F1gure I The various arms and linkage so that the roller 32 motor 15.50 p d F y j of example does not act as .a stop. .A stop 44' onthe frame Flgure that when 1.17s plston 14 15 at n end 17 limits theupward angular movement of the of its travel the piston rod 15 will'project across arm I I, V the trough QS D-t passage O the tires there- I J ournaled centrally and transversely of the 2 through and when the piston is at, theother end framel'I is a' shaft 45 to which are fixed a pair of '55 ofits travel the rod will-be .in aretractedpospaced discs 46; The discs carry. a. plurality of inwardly-facing, radially-extending felt brushes or wipers 47 which are adapted to contact with the sides of the tire. The frame 17 supports a tank I 48 which contains soapy water or other cleaning liquid supplied through pipe 49 in which the discs 16 and felt brushes 47 dip.

I In order to clean the tread portion of the tire a brush 51 is flexibly carried by a support 52 through the agency of suitable linkage 53 so that the brush will adapt itself to various sized tires.

The shaft is rotated by an electric m0tor:5. 1; 1

acting through reduction gearing 55 and a chain drive 56. The motor 54 is also adapted to rotate the drive rolls 23 and to this end the shafts 18,

19' are provided with sprockets 5'7 line with a sprocket 58 on the shaft 45. Idler sprockets 61 journalled in the frame 1'7 complete the path for a closed chain drive 62. The shafts'22 and thus the drive rolls 23 are driven from the shafts 18, 19 by chain drives between the shafts includ ing sprockets 63 and 64 and chains 65. Guard rails prevent the tire from falling sideways out of the washer.

An air motor ram 65 is provided to pushthe tire from the washer after the washing operation.

'An air motor stop 6'? controls the passage of the tires from the washer.

'After leaving the washer the tires pass along an inclined'runway 68 having side guard rails 70 to a drier which comprises apair of driverolls 69 which are connected bya chain drive 71 and which are rotated by a drive chain '72 from the reduction gearing 55.

Air is blownagainst the tire to dry it and for 'this purpose an air line 73 is. brought to one side of a diaphragm controlled valve 7% through which it extends to a U-shaped discharge pipe 75 whose inner periphery is pierced with a plurality of discharge holes (Figure 2). V

. An air motor ram '76 mounted adjacent the drier serves to push the tire from the drier after.

the drying operation. An airmotor stop '77 controls the passage of the tire from the drier.

From the drying station the tire passes to a sliding carriage 81 formedwith side supports 82, which carriage is fixed to the piston rod of an air motor 83 so that when the air motor is operatedthe carriage will move from the full line to the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 The'invention contemplates synchronizing the washer with a conveyor comprising a chain 107 trained over sprocket 108 to automatically load thewashed tires on the conveyor. This may. be accomplished by providing an overhead conveyor having a series of downwardly extending arms 85 which are arranged to pick a tire oil the carriage 81 when it is in its dotted position. The

operation of the carriage 81 is synchronized with the arms 85 either conveyor by providing a controller 86. which is driven by the-conveyor through the agency of takeoff gearing 87, chain 88, sprocket 89, shaft 91, sprocket 92, and chain 93. A

downwardly extending bracket may be proe 7 carry air to the various airmotors in the apparatus. The pipes 102 are shown only in' Figure 5 and are omitted from the remaining drawings for the sake of clearness. Aconduit 103 supplies air to the manifold 101 of the controller 85. The pressure of the air to the controller 86 may be kept substantially constant and water removed from the air by connecting the conduit 103 to the main air line through a conduit 1.04 which is valved by a diaphragm valve 155. A pressure tank 106 is preferably attached to the conduit 193 after it leaves the diaphragm valve 105.

' The operation of the washer is as follows: The tires are stacked in the apparatus by hand although it is apparent that they may be fed thereto by some simple conveyor arrangement. The stop 13 is initially in a retracted position which allows the tires to roll by gravity down to and against the stop 16. The stop 13 is now moved through the center of the second'tire as shown in Figure 1 after which the stop 16 is opened to allow the first tire to drop onto the drive rolls 23 of thewasher. V I 7 The stop 16 is now closed and stop 13 opened which allows the next tire to roll down against the stop 16 after which the stop13 is closed so that all but the t e ti ibster willbe held when the stop 16 is thereafter opened to feed-the next tire to the washer. V

The distance between the drive rolls 23 of the washer is automatically controlled by the tire itself foras it passes from the feeding station to the washer it rolls under the follower roll 32 which rocks the shaft 36 by way of link 28 and "arm 13. Just prior to the rocking-of the. shaft 36 the pawl 38 is released by the motor 39 and the air motor 30 is energized to move the arn 2'1 to a raised position. When the J-shaped arm 27 is ina raised position the rocking of the shaft 36 by the tire follower 32 occurs so thatthe shaft is turned until the portion of the cam e1 ccrrespending to the size of the tire which has just passed under the followeris under the pin 42 .of the U-shapedarmfim The airnmotor 30 is now energized in the opposite direction to move the'pin 42 carried by arm 2'7'down against the cam 41 at which tirne thepawl 38 of theratchet is moved back into engagement with the ratchet wheel 37 fixed to the shaft 35.. In this manner t e arm 27 is moved to and held in a certain-position by each tire which passes mm the washer.

The position of the arm 27 controls the angular position of the shaft 19."Theshaft-18 journaled on the other endof the frame 17 is equally but oppositely moved by the rotation of theishaft. 19 as the arms 25 and 26, fixed to the shafts'li) and 18 respectively, are connected by the link 24.

Change in the position of the arm 27'willth'us' swing the arms 21, fixed to the shafts 18 and 19, towards-or from each other which will change the distance between the rolls 23 sothat different sized tires can be handled in the washer.

l The tire is rotated in the washer by the drive rolls 23 andthe sid s a e Wash d by h felt nadle h h a ip d y th reta ion h discs 46 into the washing liquid in the tanke8.

The tread of the tire washed by the {brush the washer by theair motor ram 66. The stop 5'2 is thereafter closed and'the ram 66 retracted whereupon the tire heldin the' feedingstation is-dropped into the washer as wiil be understood.

51 whose flexible link mounting 5.3 allows the From the washer the tire rolls down the runway 68 to the drierwhere the rolls 69 turn the tire past the U-shaped drier pipe 75. Air'to the pipe '75 is controlled'by the diaphragm valve '74 which is in turn controlledby the controller 86.

After the drying operation the stop 77 is moved to a retracted position and the ram '76 is energized to push the tire into the carriage 81. At this, time the tire from the washer will also be moved into the drier and another tire will be fed into the washer as is understood. The air motor 83 will now be energized to move the carriage 81 out to the dotted line position shown in.

Figure 1 at which time an arm 85 of the conveyor will pick the tire off the carriage which will then move back to its full. line position.

The operations of the various air motors, rams and stops are, of course, controlled in timed relation by the controller 86 which is synchronized with the tire removing conveyor. The operation of the washer is thus fully automatic.

The washer has been described and illustrated for treating tires but it will be apparent that with minor changes it can be readily adapted to washa variety of articles. As many changes could struction it is intended that all matter containedin the above description'or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. Accord: ing1y,.various modifications and applications of the invention can be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: i

1. In a washer, a pair of drive rolls for supporting and rotating an article during the washing operation, and means for adjusting the distance between said drive rolls, whereby different sized article'smay be washed thereon, said means be-made in vthe con l articles of different s1zes,.1n combination with being operable by the article itself as it enters the washer.

2. In tire washing apparatus a frame, a pair of spaced parallel shafts journalled in the frame,

a pair of upwardly-extending, spaced arms on each shaft, a shaft journalled between each pair of arms, drive rolls fixed to'said last-named shafts, means for rotating said last-named shafts, additional oppositely extending vertical arms fixed one to each of said first-named shafts, a

link connecting said arms so that rocking of one in an opposite direction, a lever fixed to one of said first-named shafts, an air motor connected to the other end of said lever, a shaft journalled adjacent said lever, a tire follower, linkage connecting said follower and shaft so that various shaft will rock the other to an equal degree butv sized tires will rock the shaft to greater or less 3. Apparatus adjustable for Washing annular means operated by the article for adjusting the washingapparatus to handle the particular sized article passed thereto, said means comprising nular-articles in cooperative engagement with .mechanism for adjustably supporting said an-' said washing apparatus, a rotatable cam, means engageable-with the cam atdifferent positions for.

adjusting said supporting mechanism, and means operable by the article for rotating said cam toa greater or lesser degree according to the size of said article for bringing different portions of said cam'into contact with said cam engaging means.

I HORACE D. STEVENS. 

